


"It's Not A Date"

by clockworksilence



Series: Something I Can't Have [4]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Booker | Sebastien le Livre-centric, Gen, Insecure Booker | Sebastien le Livre, M/M, Pre-Canon, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, and his friends are absolutely no help, booker is a disaster bi, the balance of description to speech is ridiculous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:27:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29720688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockworksilence/pseuds/clockworksilence
Summary: What you need when you're venturing into something new is supportive friends who won't joke.Unfortunately, Booker doesn't have any of those...
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Original Male Character(s), the gang's all here - Relationship
Series: Something I Can't Have [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2179074
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	"It's Not A Date"

Even after over 200 years, Booker still hadn’t learnt that even a little bit of information in Joe and Nicky’s hands was a dangerous thing but it was a lesson he was being reminded of to his detriment.

Knowing there was absolutely no way to leave the place on a Saturday evening and be covert, it was Nicky he took to one side and, as delicately and vaguely as possible, told him he was heading out for a while to meet “a friend”.

Almost plausible, Nicky had thought: a possible new contact or a potential contract. But he would have just said that. There’d be no need to be coy or look as shifty as Booker currently did.

He quickly pieced it together.

“Booker, if you’re meeting that man from before, you do not have to hide it from us,” Nicky had said, gently.

 _Oh, I do,_ Booker thought. But not for the reasons Nicky assumed. Not necessarily at least.

No. It was because the second Joe got wind of it, the joking and innuendo would be endless and he wasn’t in the mood to hear it.

But the day Nicky kept anything from Joe would be a very cold day in hell.

The barbs weresubtleat first (“first time you’ve showered to meet a contact, Book”; “haven’t seen those pants for a while”), each statement met with a reproachful look or a playful slap from Nicky as they sat side-by-side on the couch of the common area.

The snide comments began at around 7.00pm. All pretence was lost by 7.15pm.

“Are you taking any protection with you?” Joe commented, innocently.

“I’m not bringing a gun with me, Joe,” Booker replied absently, almost ready to get going, wrestling to fasten his watch.

“He didn’t mean a side-arm,” Nicky said pointedly while Joe chuckled.

“Oh, you mean…?”

Booker stopped suddenly.

 _Oh._ _S_ _hit. Condom_ _s._

He frowned, curious. It wasn’t something he’d ever given much, if any, thought to.

“Is that something we need to worry about?” He wondered.

Asking two men who had only ever slept with each other for nearly 1000 years might have been the wrong crowd to question but it still lingered, leaving all three of them to overthink: if you can’t die and your body heals itself from any any all illness, leaving no trace of it in your system…?

“Probably not. No on a first date, anyway.” Joe’s onslaught was relentless.

Booker sighed and rolled his eyes.

“It’s not a date,” Booker was emphatic. “I’m just meeting someone for a drink. That’s all. I’m certainly not going to sleep with him. I just met him, I’m not Andy.”

Through his speech, he hadn’t heard the door to the rear room open. He hadn’t heard Andy, awake from her first real sleep in about two months, sneak up behind him. But he saw Nicky and Joe’s glance shift and refocus and knew he was screwed.

“She’s standing right behind me, isn’t she?” He was resigned to his fate.

“Well, I couldn’t find a stranger’s bed to fall into.” Andy’s tone was dripping with sarcasm but the playful glint in her eye told everyone she meant no malice.

Booker lowered his head, defeated, while everyone around him laughed. Needing an escape, if only for a moment, he wandered into the bathroom to gather his thoughts. Unthinkingly, needing to do something with his hands, he reached for a half-used bottle of cologne he had no real memory of buying but that couldn’t be more than 10 years old, judging by the dust that had settled in the curves of the glass. He spritzed some on, the scent familiar, and tried to ground himself. He hadn’t meant to do it all. It felt like an unnecessary step in preparation.

Maybe there was a lower part of him that seemed to want to make a good impression.

“What’s wrong with him?” Andy asked Joe, leaning against one of the oak sideboard units, folding her arms, getting up to speed.

“He’s just a little nervous because he has that date tonight,” Joe replied, smoothly.

“It’s not a date,” Booker interjected, walking back through the lounge to the bedroom to grab his wallet.

“Is this that guy from the bar?” Andy probed further. “He’s going on a date with the guy from the bar?”

 _Oh, good, the whole family’_ _s_ _involved._

“It’s not a date,” Booker repeated, passing through once again, fixing his hair.

Nicky nodded, blithely ignoring him. “They’re meeting up for drinks.”

Andy turned to Booker and caught him before he darted into another room.

“You taking the motorcycle?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Don’t drink too much if you’re riding that thing.”

“Andy’s right,” Joe called. “I’m sure there are other things you’ll be riding later tonight instead.”

Andy and Booker rightly ignored the interruption, though one found it infinitely more funny than the other.

“Andy, c’mon...” Booker was reproachful; younger brother to a much older sister.

“I’m serious. I don’t need to hear you’ve caused an accident when we’re trying to lie low.”

Booker scoffed. “I don’t cause accidents.”

Andy’s reply was instant. “Paris in 1915, Copenhagen in 1931, Lisbon in 1974…”

“...Any more!”

Time was getting away from him. Booker looked quickly at his watch and was suddenly overwhelmed with the worry of being late.

No more stalling. No more playful bickering. No more reason to delay.

Sensing his anxiety, Andy switched the mood up.

“You look good,” she said encouragingly, smirking a little.

Booker smiled a little in return. “And on that note...”

The other three watched as he grabbed his keys from the shelf near the door, swinging it open and making to leave.

“You smell good, too!” Andy called after him.

“Shut up!” Booker yelled back, spirits high, closing the door with a resounding slam behind him.


End file.
